I know that sharing specifics about personal budgets and finance is considered bad form but, after discussing it with my husband, I’m going to share some of those personal details. Some of what I’ll be sharing is, for me, very personal and I know we are opening ourselves up to judgement and critique and possibly ridicule by sharing these things.

However, I’m doing this in the hope that it may help a couple who is struggling with the decision of whether or not to expand their family, or one who has been surprised to learn that their family is expanding. I’m also hoping that it may be helpful for a family who is struggling financially; maybe part of our family’s system will help them. Or at least I always think it is nice to know I’m not alone in my particular hardship.Because I am writing the coming posts from a place of great vulnerability I don’t want to fill the posts with clarifications and asides, I just want to share about my specific family and our specific situation. I hope it is understood by everyone that I do not believe (nor does the Church teach) that large families are “more Catholic” than small families. And I wholeheartedly believe that not everyone is called to have a big family - there are legitimate reasons to space or be completely done having children. I also know there’s a big difference between having zero, one, or two kids and having nice things and having zero, one, or two kids so you can have nice things. Again, I am talking about my family and our ways - not commenting on anyone else’s.I also hope no one will make comments about my husband’s and my decision to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church and not contracept. We firmly believe, and think science makes obvious, that life begins at conception, that we were wonderfully and fearfully made, and that God asks sex to be open to life. (You can read more about those teachings here if you’d like.)Finally, I want to say that Yes, we are living this life because it’s the life we’ve chosen. We chose to take out student loans. We chose to pay for things with a credit card. We chose to not contracept or abort any of our babies. Travis chose to go into teaching and I chose to be a stay at home mom (Although daycare for five kids? It wouldn’t even be worth it for me to work!) We have chosen to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church. We have chosen to make these sacrifices because we believe that in the end, no matter how hard things may be now (and how hard it is for even us to see it), it is worth it. It’s worth it to choose life. It is worthwhile to choose life over death, over the impossibility of more life, or over things and experiences. And it is worth it because life is worth living.

Yay! Can't wait to read it, you should do a blogger series on this, it would be so nice to see how everyone does it. I know from living it that it's one of the biggest worries our family has, and one the world constantly reminds us of. Solidarity and support in this area would be so nice!

This is great. And I love the whole post of what you will be saying vs what you aren't saying ;) I am looking forward to reading this as I think it's a common struggle of Catholic living in today's culture especially.

So excited to read this. Thank you for being so open! And I will ditto Colleen - would be crazy cool if you could do a blogger series, though I know finding other people to open up about finances may be tough.

Wow, this kind of honesty brings tears to my eyes (and you haven't really started yet! Am I going to need a box of Kleenex next to me as I read tomorrow's post?) (Is it possible that I'm also being overly emotional?) (Yes and yes? :D) Anyway, looking forward to following along.

I'm really looking forward to this series...thanks. While in Catholic circles, our family isn't that large, we definitely have had times where we qualified as poor (and even chose to add to our family during that time), so I think this will be super interesting.

Very much looking forward to this. My family is smaller than yours (three kids) but my husband has also followed the call to a vocation of teaching (for him, in catholic schools) and I stay at home. You are brave to share your story and I REALLY hope the negative comments are nonexistent!

This is amazing! My husband is also a teacher and I justttt became a stay at home mom with our first. I'd love to have lots of kids but the financial aspect is what worries me the most. I'm looking forward to reading your story. Thank you for opening yourself up in this way -- I know you are going to touch a lot of hearts and I pray the naysayers stay away. :)

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So excited for this! We are at the junction of taking the plunge for number two or putting it off a few years until DH is done with school and I can stay home. It is such a hard decision to make and seeing how others make those decisions helps so much!

I just started reading your blog. My girlfriends Susan from solesearchingmama and Mary from sometimesmarthaalwaysmary introduced me to you. Excited to "catch up" on your site and see what you are all about!!!

I feel so afraid of what will happen when my kids finish school and go to college. My husband and I have felt able to be generous with the gift of life because he didn't have any debt from undergrad and has a good job due to his degree. I know things would be different if we had to pay off his loans in addition to my own six figures of student loans. This is what makes me afraid: all my family who has large families say "just take out loans for college" or "don't send your kids to college at alll". How will that help my own kids someday when they are making choices about family size? It seems these two choices lead to either debilitating debt or a low paying job. Please read this with a tone of charity; I am sincerely asking what other mamas think they are going to do about this very difficult question. Please help!